“Six to eight weeks” – Pep Guardiola provides update on Erling Haaland’s lengthy ‘bone fracture’ injury

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Published on 2024-01-26 09:30:00

Pep Guardiola has given an update on Erling Haaland’s recovery from a bone fracture injury, which has kept him out of action for the past two months. Manchester City’s star striker sustained the injury in late November, prompting Guardiola to reevaluate his attacking format while Haaland has been sidelined.

During Haaland’s absence, Julian Alvarez has been given an extended opportunity to lead the line for the Premier League champions. Phil Foden has also operated closely to Alvarez, filling in the gap left by the 23-year-old striker.

However, there is hope for Manchester City fans as Haaland’s recovery seems to be reaching its end. Guardiola provided an update on Haaland’s injury prior to the team’s upcoming game against Tottenham, explaining that the foot problem was more serious than initially thought.

He confirmed that the injury was a bone fracture, which requires time and cannot be rushed. Guardiola emphasized that the recovery period would be between six to eight weeks, and that Haaland has been making progress without feeling any pain over the last 10 days of training.

“It’s a bone (problem),” Guardiola began, when asked whether Manchester City would need to change their approach to managing Erling Haaland following injury problems at Borussia Dortmund prior to moving to the Etihad Stadium.

“At the end we thought it was a little bit less, but at the end it was a little bit of a fracture of the bone and the bone is not a muscular issue that you can do a little bit and come back a little bit (sooner). When you have this kind of injuries, it is a question of time.”

He continued, “If the people say between six to eight weeks, it’s between six to eight weeks! It’s not about as much as you work, as much you go to Abu Dhabi or don’t go to Abu Dhabi it will be short. The bone needs time to close, to make his procedure, and now he’s at the end, I think it will be eight weeks now, almost two months this weekend or next week.

“So it’s the process, he feels good, now he needs time to take the rhythm and we’ll start to give him minutes when he’ll be fit.”

On a more encouraging note for those desperate to see the Norwegian superstar back in action for Manchester City, Pep Guardiola has gone on to reveal that Haaland has not felt any pain in his foot over the last 10 days of training across Abu Dhabi and at the City Football Academy.

“In Abu Dhabi and here, in the last week or 10 days, he doesn’t feel anything. So that is a good way.

“When we came back, after two or three sessions, he felt a little bit of disturbance and that’s why we were a little bit cautious after we waited a lot of time, in December he could not play for a long time to try to avoid it, and now he feels good and now we give him three more or four days and hopefully in Burnley he can play some minutes, his first minutes, we will see.”

As the team prepares to face Tottenham on Friday night, there is anticipation for Haaland’s return and the potential impact he could have in the upcoming FA Cup fifth round and Premier League matches.

Despite the challenges posed by Haaland’s absence, Guardiola and the team remain hopeful for his comeback and look forward to his return to the starting line-up.

Read Original article on City Xtra